Chair



Sqn. 24, 1940.

M. BREUER CHAIR Filed July 7, 1937 3 Shets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3.

Sept. 24, 1940. M BREUER 2,215,540

CHAIR Filed July 7, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 8.

ATTO /VfY Patented Sept. 24,'

UNITED bs'rxriss. PATENT OFFICE CHAIR Marcel Breuer, London, England Application July 7, 1937, Serial No. 152,456 In Great Britain July 10, 1936 6 Claims.

This invention relates to chairs of the kind furnished with seats made of plywood or other resilient sheet material capable of deformation when loaded, such for example asa syntheti resin or bre.

An important object of the invention is toprovide an improved chair with a resilient seat capable of yielding and adapting itself somewhat to the shape of a body of a-person sitting or lying on it.

A further important object of the invention is to simplify the construction of resilient chairs without losing any resiliency.

A further object of the invention is to provide support members for a plywood or like seat that are strong enough to carry a considerable load and yet to afford resilient support to the seat.

Inl order that my invention may be clearly understood I shall now proceed to describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view from the front of one chair in accordance with my invention,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the same chair from the rear,

Figure 3 is a section taken on the line III-III of Figure 1, and

Figures 4 to 13 are diagrams showing alternative shapes of chair incorporating the principles underlying my invention.

'Ihe chair shown in Figures 1 to 3 comprises a resilient wood frame and a plywood seat member. The wood frame is formed from left and right hand combined ground and upstanding front support members which run along the ground at i, are curved upwardly to present vertical runs 2 and are then curved again to run rearwardly as shown at 3. The frame also comprises left and right hand combined ground and upstanding support members which run along the ground as shown at 4, are curved upwardly to present vertical runs 5, are then curved rear-v Wardly and downwardly as shown at 6, toform arm rests and nally are curved through approximately 90 to run upwardly again, as shown at l. The ground members l and 4 are morticed into one another, although they might equally Well be made from a single piece of wood.

The plywood seat is shown at 8 and it is curvedr are morticed into the parts 3 and 1 respectively of the front and rear support members. It will p be observed that the front and rear support members are not connected at all at their upstanding portions, except through the plywood seat 8. The 5 rear support members are, however, connected below the seat by a transverse member Il.

The vertical runs 5 of the rear support members are reinforced in a manner that constitutes one feature of the present invention. It will be l0 seen that these rear support members are made of flat pieces of Wood bent into the desired shape and then wooden webs I4 are so applied as reinforcements that the complete'vertical run (including the bend at each end) is T-shaped in l5 cross-section.

My invention is not restricted to the chair shown in Figures 1 to 3. In particular the seat member need not be made of plywood but may be made of any. equivalent material, and it may be formed with openings either left open or covered by elastic webbing or other material in order to provide greater comfort. In general I find it convenient to cover the seat member with a loose mattress.

Again, the shape of the chair may be varied. Figures 4 to 13 show various possible shapes. It will be observed that in the chairs shown in Figures 6 and 7 the rear support members are not extended to form arm rests. In the chair shown in Figure 4 the front support members are connected to the seat member on a forward run, and in the chair shown in Figure 8 on a downward run, in contrast to the connection on the upward run 3 in the chair shown in Figures 1 to 3. The 35 differences in the other chairs shown diagrammatically will be apparent from a study of the gures. In the chairs shown in Figures 5, 6, 10 and 11 the front and rear support members are made integral with a ground member; It will be observed that in some of the chairs there are leg restsand in others these are omitted. It will be understood that in general the leg rests may be omitted, if desired, from those chairs in which they are shown and may, if desired, be incorprated in those chairs in which they are not shown, it being simply a question of the length and design of the seat members.

I claim:

1. A chair having a substantially continuous plywood or like resilient seat and back, a pair of upstanding front support members, a pairv of 1 upstanding rear support members, at least said front. support members being formed from resilient material, the rear support members each having aportion capable of sustaining the main vertical load and an upper portion extending therefrom, the i'ront and rear members of said pairs being connected at their upper portions by the seat and back, and being secured together at their lower ends by members that make contact with the ground from iront to rear and prevent longitudinal movement ot the bottom ends of the iront members relatively to the bottom ends of the rear members, the resilient seat and back forming the sole connecting means for the upper ends of all the upstanding members, whereby under load the upper portions of the front members may move relatively of and rearwardly with reference to the load supporting portions of the rear members.

2. A chair according to claim 1, in which the support members are made of wood having resilient properties.

3. A chair according to claim 1, in which the seat is morticed into the upper portions oi the support members.

4. A chair according to claim 1, in which the rear support members are connected below the seat by a transverse member.

5. A chair according to claim 1, in which the portions of the rear members which take the main vertical load are substantially vertically arranged and of T-section, being constituted by a iiat piece of wood and a reinforcing web secured thereto.

6. A chair according to claim 1, in which the continuous seat and back is extended upwardly of the upper portions of the rear members and shaped to form a head rest.

MARCEL BREUER. 

